


Almost Lost Him

by ImaKaraTabiHe



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Justice League - All Media Types, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Anger, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Panic, Protective Leonard Snart, Protective Oliver Queen, Protectiveness, Trust Issues, Worry, based on "Divided We Fall", except with a twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 19:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8026534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaKaraTabiHe/pseuds/ImaKaraTabiHe
Summary: Everyone was watching when Flash was almost killed by Luthor, was watching when Flash almost disappeared for good.  There were fans that took it hard, but there were those that took it harder.





	Almost Lost Him

_Len doesn't take a breath until he sees Flash safely tucked in Superman's arms._

“Lenny,” a voice says urgently, a hand shaking him back to reality. He looks at Lisa with wide eyes as his hands shake. Her eyes are serious, but he can see a glint of panic in them. He's sure that's what he looks like right now. “Lenny, you have to pull yourself together,” she demands.

Len blinks, confused, in shock. “Oh, for goodness' sake,” she huffs. “Mick!”

Suddenly pain explodes on the left side of his cheek and he falls back, knocked on his ass. Hand on his cheek, he looks up to see Mick standing there, boiling with anger. “Get up, asshole! The doll needs you,” he commands with a take-no-bullshit tone.

The very mention of why he's been so panicked startles him into action and he whips out his phone, texting Cisco for a number. Cisco must've been expecting him or  _someone_ because his reply is immediate.  _“Why?”_

Len texts back:  _“I'm going to get Scarlet back.”_ There are several moments of silence, in which someone's helped him up, before he gets a response. There's a phone number and in addition to it Cisco's written:  _“Bring him back.”_

Fingers already moving to the numbers, he doesn't bother responding to Cisco and he's sure Cisco isn't expecting it. His mind is settling into an ice cold, emotionless state, ignoring the terror clawing at his heart. By the answer on the third ring, he's got a plan in place. Just needs the players.

“ _Who is this?”_ Queen demands, using his Arrow voice, which normally Len thought was amusing, but right now? He couldn't bring himself to even bubble up a little amusement. “I'm going to get him back. Are you in?” he bluntly questions.

Queen instantly knows exactly who is he and doesn't bother with any formalities, thank god.  _“You've got a plan?”_ His voice is slightly off, now that he doesn't have to be all demanding with a stranger. Len can tell he's in the same state of mind and wonders if he sounds the same. “How fast can you and your archers be ready?”

“ _Immediately.”_

“Where are you?” Len asks, pulling his Cold gun up and stuffing it in place, haphazardly. He notes how his Rogues are already suited up and looking at him, waiting for directions. Len quirks a small, tight smile.

“We'll be there soon,” he says, hanging up after Queen's given him the location. Len barks out orders to Sam, giving instructions to the others and telling Hartley to get in contact with Cisco and Dr. Snow. Grudgingly, he can't take Mick and Lisa with him to the Watchtower. He promised Barry he'd stay out of the League's way.

Lisa and Mick go to argue, but Len pleads, “Please. Go to STAR Labs and wait for us there. We'll bring him there as soon as we have him.” He's not sure if his frosty facade has broken or not, but they relent, renewing their energy and flying out of the safe house to STAR fast.

Once Len is sure that everyone has their orders and is carrying them out, he swallows a lump of fear and steps through the mirror.

  


Oliver barely has enough of a grip on his utter panic to answer his ringing phone, growling out, “Who is this?”

“ _I'm going to get him back. Are you in?”_ He closes his eyes, shut taking a deep breath. Oliver should've known Cold would call. If he hadn't, Oliver would've feathered him personally. “You've got a plan?” he questions, eyes flickering to the others and gesturing towards their costumes. They seem to get it as they snap up and hurry to get changed. _“How fast can you archers be ready?”_

Oliver swings his quiver across his shoulder and looks over at Thea and Roy. They're almost ready. Felicity is pale and Diggle has a hand on her shoulder, steadying her. “Immediately.”

“ _Where are you?”_ Cold demands. When Oliver gives him the location of a hotel closed for renovations the next block over, Cold answers, _“We'll be there soon,”_ and hangs up. Oliver bellows at them to move it faster and he grabs his bow as they scramble behind him and out the door. They make it to the hotel and are inside in record time.

  


Len steps out of the mirror, composed and grim. He's glad the archers are there, waiting. He wouldn't have the patience to wait. “I've got a way onto the Watchtower,” he explains, telling formality to go fuck itself.

Pulling out a blueprint of the medical bay, he points to a room that Hartley's gotten word that Flash is being cared for in. “As soon as we step out of the mirror here,” he points to a section of the room, “we need to be ready to keep any heroes off our backs until we can get Barry out safely.”

_No matter what_ remains unsaid, but he looks up to see any sign of hesitation because he needs to be damn sure that everyone's on board with this. Queen's face is still, taking it in and thinking but resolute. The other Queen and her boyfriend appear to be equally determined. It quells a bit of fear in Len's heart.

“Let's go,” Cold commands as he steps back into the mirror, gun in his hands as the archers follow him readily.

  


The beeping of a heart monitor echoes in their ears, filling the sound of the hospital type room as they step out from the mirror. It's a little small for the taller members of the odd group, but they manage. Arrow, Speedy, and Arsenal have their bows at the ready and are silent as they creep forward.

Cold hears someone inhale sharply as their eyes find Barry, unconscious and hooked up to various machines. Barry's face is pale, making the bruises and cuts stand out against his skin. Cold's heart clenches with pain at the sight.

He doesn't bother to look at the archers, who've since cleared the room and positioned themselves with their weapons pointed towards the door. Cold just tucks the gun away for a moment so he can reach out. His hands shake a little as he cups Barry's cheeks in his hands and he bites the inside of his mouth to keep from crying.

Kissing Barry's forehead, his heart soars as he hears Barry breathe beneath him. He thanks the stars that Barry's alive and he curses Luthor and that techno alien for doing this to Barry. To  _his Scarlet._ “You're going to be okay,” he whispers to Barry, placing a delicate kiss on his lips, stroking Barry's cheeks with his thumbs. “We're going to move you to a safe place.”

“Incoming,” Arrow's gruff voice cuts through the moment and Cold has his gun out and turns towards the door, Barry tucked protectively behind him. Everyone tenses as the door opens.

  


To say that they were shocked, would be an exaggeration. Half of them are still wincing with every movement from the wounds they'd gotten from the battle. But here they were, shocked beyond belief to find  _four_ outsiders in Barry's hospital room. “What's going on, Arrow?” Batman demands, eyes narrowed as he looks at the scene.

Arrow doesn't answer, just tightens his grip on his bow and Speedy and Arsenal do the same. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl's eyes flicker to Barry behind the familiar form of Captain Cold, one of Flash's criminals and they feel a rush of fear.

“Get away from him,” Green Lantern hisses, ignoring his aches. Hawkgirl's hand tightens on her mace. “We have to be careful,” Superman reaches out, gripping Lantern's shoulder. “If we fight here, we could hurt Flash.”

Cold snorts, unamused at the  Kr yptonian's statement. “You're part of the reason, he's here.” The League members narrow their eyes at Cold, confused.

Wonder Woman blinks, confused, but the  M artian is oddly silent, as if he knows something. “What are you talking about?” Hawkgirl bites out,  shifting a little. Arrows point her direction in an instant and she freezes in place.

Cold gestures behind him, “If you'd been stronger this wouldn't have happened.”

“That's not on us,” Batman grits out, hands clenched with anger at having outsiders in the Watchtower. Speedy growls, “As if! What were you doing when Flash was saving your asses?”

“Speedy..” Arrow warns, but he doesn't refute what she's said or ask her to apologize. He can't help but feel the way Cold is. How could they let him go after Luthor alone? How could they just stand by?

“We tried to help,” Wonder Woman starts, but Arrow cuts her off with a shake of his head. “You almost _lost_ him,” he grinds out, angry.

Wonder Woman pales and looks down. Some of the other members look guilty and look away, while some – Batman – just glare at them. “We did all we could,” Batman argues.

“And it wasn't enough,” Cold hisses, gun pointed straight at Batman. “I know he may not seem like much to a rich bastard or a bunch of super-powered humans and aliens, but he's  _ important to us.” _ His trigger finger twitches as he fights to restrain his overwhelming desire to ice them or at least hurt them as much as he can.

“When he said he wanted to help save the world, I reluctantly agreed because I was stupid enough to believe that with a group of superheroes at his back, nothing like Thawne or Zoom would  _ ever _ happen again, but I was  _ wrong.” _ Cold glares freely, coldly, at the heroes who are just staring at him right now with a look of shock.  _ “I'm not losing him ever.” _

The three archers grin a little at the little speech Captain Cold just pulled. He's protective. Sadly, they can't say they aren't. Barry had a way about him that wormed into their hearts. He was a special kind of warmth when they couldn't feel anything but ice. If the League wasn't going to treasure and watch his back, they were all for taking him away.

Superman made a move and Arrow growled,  _ “Make one move and you might not like what sort of  _ _ gem _ _ is hiding in this arrow.” _ Superman freezes, eyes growing wide.

Batman can't stand it and snaps, “What the fuck do you want?”

Cold raises an eyebrow, “Isn't it obvious? We're taking my boyfriend back.” Cold smirks, tilting his head to the side. Green Lantern's eyes bug out at the mention and Cold and the archers can see that even Batman is stunned into silent shock.

“He can be moved,” J'onn speaks up, causing everyone to look at him. “His condition is serious, but not so that he cannot travel back with you. I assume you have a medical facility?”

Arrow nods, slowly. Cold looks at J'onn, evaluating. Barry had said he was a mind reader. He supposes he was right. Reluctantly, he dips his head in thanks to the Martian and  pockets his gun, leaving their protection to the archers. Cold turns around and gently pulls the monitors and IVs free of his lover's body. Ignoring the audience, he brushes Barry's hair out of the way and kisses his forehead again before he slips his arms under the Speedster's body and picks him up.

“You good?” Arrow asks, eyes not moving from the League members. “Got him,” Cold responds.

“Speedy, Arsenal, you're next,” Arrow says as Cold steps into the mirror with Barry in his arms. Speedy and Arsenal slowly back up, arms still tense with their bow and arrow. Speedy slips through first and Arsenal pauses, waiting on Arrow.

Arrow looks Batman in the eyes. “If he wants to see you again, you can visit, but we aren't leaving him alone with you. Not until you can guarantee that you won't allow what happened to Barry to happen again. If you can't do that, you should start watching your backs.”

Green Lantern scoffed, feeling hurt and angry. “As if you could find us out of uniform.” Arrow's deadly gaze turns to him and Lantern shifts, feeling oddly ill at ease. “You think that we're too beneath you to be able to find out who you are, but between Cold and I, we could have your civilian identities and weaknesses in a heartbeat.”

Arrow smirks with a bitter sense of victory at the pale faces of the superheroes. “Keep that in mind,” he tells them as he follows Arsenal through the mirror.

  


Len sits on a chair beside Barry's bed at STAR Labs, listening to the same sound of a heart monitor as it beeps consistently. It sounds better this time, less empty. Len squeezes Barry's hand, stroking his cheek with the other, watching as the wounds began to fade. Dr. Snow said that he'd need time, but he'd recover. Cisco told him that they'd run tests as soon as possible about what happened to cause Barry to almost disappear. Hartley offered to help.

Len looked up at the archers as they stood there, watching with their masks off and leaning against the wall or in a chair. “Thank you,” he told them, vaguely hearing Lisa and Mick talk about getting food for Barry when he wakes up in another room.

“You don't need to thank us,” the younger Queen told him, a soft smile on her face. “We feel the same way about Barry.”

Queen raised an eyebrow and Harper gave her a look that made her revise her words, “Well.. almost the same.”

Len chuckled softly and look back at his lover. He's not sure what Barry will say when he wakes up, if he'll approve, but right now Len could care less. Barry's alive and safe, somewhere with people Len trusts to take good care of him.  The  _ Justice League _ can go fuck themselves, for all Len cares. The only person that matters right now to Len is his Scarlet.

The hand in his squeezes back and the darkness in Len's heart starts to fade. Hazel, half-lidded eyes find his and he smiles lovingly down at Barry. “Welcome back, Scarlet.”

**Author's Note:**

> Eh.. What can I say about this.. Not much really. It was another one of those ideas that just slapped me until I gave in. I do, admittedly, like the idea of the misplaced anger and the protectiveness by those that love Barry. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment, tell me what you think. I have no idea whether this whole thing came together right, but I hope it did.  
> Have a good week!
> 
> Tumblr: tabihe


End file.
